by Agent Kevin Miller
If you were ever accused, called, labeled or literally BEEN an ‘addict’, you qualify. The labels of ‘absorbed’, ‘fanatic’ and ‘obsessed’ qualify as well.
If you’ve ever failed in a substantial way that left some scars and fear and regret, you qualify.
Both of these are great indicators that you can be a successful free agent.
It’s a myth that successful free agents, entrepreneurs, self-employed and small business owners are a certain personality style. Total B.S., because I know folks who are kickin’ butt as free agents in all shapes and varieties.
But…they do generally have some common traits. Often, not always…but surprisingly often, they fall into the category of ‘addict’ and have had some healthy failures. Literally, this isn’t a catchy gimmick for for an attention getting blog post.
ADDICTS
From a literal statistical aspect, I’ve experienced that many successful free agents have had problems with addictions. Whether to substance abuse or workaholism or even less offensive aspects such as media or food or sports or shopping or _____________ fill in the blank.
Some area that consumed them to an unbalanced degree.
Here is the deal, show me any leader that you revere or respect or follow or recommend that wasn’t unbalanced in their lives when they built or created whatever it is that you know them for, and I’ll show you…nobody. It doesn’t happen.
Am I saying being out of balance for the sake of work or anything is OK? YES! For a time…to build or create something substantial. I’m a fan of a year myself. You can radically change the world (or at least your world) in a year. The key is giving up some other things in order to not be totally insane. But they will be things you will NOT want to give up. Good things. You’ll have to give them up for the sake of great things. Devotion, commitment, obsessed, fanatical…ADDICT. So be it.
If you are not an ‘addict’ or any of the other similar terms…is there hope? Sure, but maybe for the first time in your life, you’re going to have to get out of balance and handcuff yourself to an endeavor like never before. And smile when someone accuses you of being ‘obsessed’. It’s better than accepting ‘mediocre’.
*Note: I’m not minimizing true, tragic addictions. I know someone will take offense here. Hey, I had a very close person in my life nearly kill themselves with alcoholism. Please, accept the analogy, OK?
FAILURES
There are so many pithy, but beautiful and true quotes on failure, but I’m not going to post any here. Instead I’ll just share a truth that most successful folks, whether it be in free agency or anything else, have some substantial failures in their past.
I recently heard Frans Johansson, author of “The Medici Effect”, say that people who change the world simply try more ideas. “We are horrible at predicting what ideas will work,” he says. Man, that rang true for me in regards to those who are successfully self-employed.
That’s why I go for heart and commitment to what free agency gets you. It’s a vehicle to achieve values in life that you are committed to. Once you have the commitment, than any ‘failure’ along the way is simply a step towards the thing that does work. But you don’t give up or get deterred because of a failure.
So if you’ve had a pretty decent failure(s) in your past, then great…I know you are willing to try.
Now at FAA our goal is to help minimize your failures. Make them less catastrophic than some of the rest of us have had. But honestly, I no longer use the term ‘failure.’ You try one thing, if it doesn’t work you try another, and so forth…until you get it. The point is perseverance and being committed to making it.
Not had any big failures in your life? Then with all due respect, you haven’t tried much and/or haven’t come close to achieving all you were created to be. Pushing to failure is the only way to measure what you are capable of. Is this my support to go off willy-nilly and bet the farm and easily lose it? NO! Again, seek counsel and don’t go it alone. Minimize and calculate your failures. But I do not believe you can succeed with anything substantial without some failures that hurt a bit.
‘Addicts & Failures’. HEY, anything other than pure ‘average’ will ultimately get a negative label and a bad wrap. You just have to withstand it till you make it, and then they’ll heap all the positive labels on you. It’s a stupid reality, but it’s real.
It’s your job, to go after it. Be…unreal.
Brought to you by Free Agent Academy where our goal is to get you addicted to the right things and recognizing ‘failure’ as merely an expected challenge on the way to your calling!
[audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/freeagent/FreeAgentUnderground083011_Wanted_AddictsAndFailures.mp3]
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